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Hello again Everyone,

It’s been a bit cloudy the last few days, but the team awoke to beautifully clear skies and views of Kilimanjaro looming above us.

We started our day with fresh fruits, eggs, porridge, and plenty of coffee, before setting off on our second day. The trail out of camp slowly ascends through the last remaining trees and makes its way along a rocky ridge that climbs up onto the Shira Plateau. We hiked a little more that 4 hours to reach our next camp arriving shortly before the clouds returned.

Everyone enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the views of the valleys below as we climbed steadily up Kilimanjaro.

We are currently relaxing in our camp enjoying good conversations and stories from team members.

RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Kili crew!

July 14, 2022

After waking to wild horses outside our tents in search for scraps, we gulped down some coffee and porridge and began walking uphill in the cold of the night at 2:00 a.m. We made the toe of the glacier by 5:30 a.m. and donned our crampons and climbing gear. Due to the melting out of the glacier we attempted a new route over a rocky ridge where we began climbing two pitches of firm nevé to the cruzy glacial traverse toward the steep summit ramp. The team dug deep through the heat of the morning and reached the summit of Ishinca where we were surrounded by cobalt skies and beautiful snowy peaks. Back at camp, the team was tired and ready for bed. We enjoyed fresh avocado salads and asada then quickly got horizontal under a clear starry night. Ready for a well deserved rest day tomorrow!

RMI Guide Alan Davis and Team

Monday, June 20, 2022 - 10:17 pm PT

Today we moved camp from 7,800' to 11,200'. The weather has been in our favor, and we are right on schedule. This move was a big effort. We gained 3,400 vertical feet over about 3.5 miles with backpacks and sleds in 5.5 hours. Steve’s hula-hoop proved to be a challenge in the 6 inches of fresh snow we got overnight as it acted like a West Virginia earth mover until he put it were it belonged - around his waist. Over the last 1,000', we encountered the rare Type 2.9 fun but RMI Guides Andy, Grayson and Ben kept us moving and motivated. Andy only threatened to turn the car around once. One of the benefits of later season trips is moving into tent platforms and toilet facilities that were already built by teams ahead of us on the mountain. So, like stinky cuckoos, we rolled into 11,200' Camp and got set up quickly. Huge amounts of carbs and electrolytes were consumed. Then we napped. And napped some more.

Tonight we dine in a proper posh. Bacon Mac & Cheese is the main course followed by sleeves of Oreos and mini Snickers bars. Everybody is happy and healthy and the weather is lining up. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

For the comments, what do you call a huge pile of cats?

-Hyde

Our mood was a reflection of how the snow fell today. Slow and relaxed. After a really hard day yesterday, the team enjoyed recovering in our tents. Reading, writing, and watching movies. And how could we forget the amazing pizza meal for lunch?! Not able to see past our campsite, it's really nice to be living in a world of snow.

Till next time,

RMI Guide Luke Wilhelm

RMI Guide Alan Davis checked in via inReach. The team arrived at the western end of the Ishinca Glacier at 14,400' yesterday. They will spend a couple of days building on the skills in preparation for our first summit bid, Ishinca at 18,143'.

All is well, no hiccups! 

Hannah and I are thrilled to announce to bloglandia that every RMI team member, all 13 of us, summited Cotopaxi this morning around 6:15 am.   I gotta say, this team is batting the perfect game.   Every climber has successfully reached the top of all four mountains without as much as a few blisters.   Granted I taped those blisters up this morning at 12:03 am and I was happy they weren’t mine, but it goes to show that stamina and toughness go a long way up here.   

Potentially assisting in the team’s great success is the unbelievable weather.   I was awe struck at how beautiful Cayambe was but surprised even more at the perfection of today’s weather and route conditions.   Whoever cashed in their karma chips certainly deserves a Pilsner Grande for their investment.   We simply could not be blessed with better luck.  Adding to the beauty this evening was a near full moon which lit up the glacier so brightly we were able to climb without headlamps.    Usually one element, wind, rain, snow, fog or cold is waiting for you at the top.  Today all we had was an intense rotten egg smell from the still active lava tube belching sulfurous gas but other than that nada mucho.   

After a spectacular climb and full blown photo shoot extravaganza, we descended quickly to the hut for homemade pancakes.  Again, this is how mountain climbing should be?   (When do we get cooks again at camp Muir?)

A brief packing session and 600 vertical foot hike down to the bus landed our exhausted carcasses into our assigned seats and off to the Hacienda for a needed shower and big dinner.   I think the average calorie burn on peoples watches indicated between 7 and 9 thousand calories for the day so some papas fritas and lots of meat shouldn’t tighten the belt too much.  

We hope this trend continues tomorrow as we head further south to attempt the grand finale of Chimborazo.   This mountain is notorious for its difficulty so stay tuned.

RMI Guide Adam Knoff

The Expedition Skills Seminar - Emmons led by RMI Guide Mike Walter reached the summit of Mt. Rainier yesterday. High winds delayed their summit alpine start but the team was still able to make a summit attempt and all of the team memebers were able to stand on top. The team returned to Camp Schurman for their final night on the mountain.  Today they intend to do a bit of training before descending to the trail head and transferring back to Rainier BaseCamp. We look forward to seeing them later this afternoon at the conclusion of their program.

Congratulations everyone!

We reached Mweka Camp at 2:50 PM to finish our 16-hour climbing day. 

The “day” began last night at 11 PM when we woke for our summit bid.  After a little breakfast, at 12:05 AM we hit the trail behind Naiman - our lead guide. 

Our team made rapid progress, passing several other teams on the dirt and rock switchbacks.  It was a fairly cold night, and that was before the winds started up.  By our second rest break, a few hours into the climb we were adding clothing layers and putting on bigger gloves.  By our fourth break, most of the team had all available clothing on.  We hit the crater rim at Stella Point by 5:40 AM and took just a brief pause there for food and water before pushing on toward Uhuru - Kilimanjaro’s summit.  The light of day came slowly and beautifully on as we walked on the rim at 19,000 ft.  Sunrise was most welcome at 6:30 but by then our attention was on the phenomenal shadow cast by Kilimanjaro in the skies to the west… exactly over the summit of 15,000 ft Mt Meru.  

We hit Uhuru at 6:40 AM and shed a few tears, shook hands, hugged, and snapped photos.  It was an amazingly beautiful time of day.  But it was also bitterly cold and windy, so we got out of there at 6:55 and headed back to Stella without delay.  Winds were really picking up at Stella then and putting a lot of dirt and dust in the air, so we cruised right on over the edge and started dropping altitude.  The descent was a combination of careful steps and full-on boot skiing through steep gravel and pumice. 

We were back to camp at a respectable hour 9:40 AM, rubbing our eyes and wiping dirt and dust off our faces.  Our fabulous staff treated the team to a full brunch/lunch of 15,000 ft pizza and coffee, after which we left camp bound for Mweka - 5000 ft lower.  The trail down is direct and rough, we certainly were cautious and ready to be done for much of it. 

Now it is a relief to be camped in the forest for one more night.  The air has moisture again… and oxygen in abundance. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn & team